


Unkiss Me

by sabakunokaguya



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/M, Implied Relationships, Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26900989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabakunokaguya/pseuds/sabakunokaguya
Summary: One-shot. "What's the point of this?" she said as she frantically pointed between the two of them, "you don't have to love me." A small part of her wanted him to say the affair would stop and that things would go back to normal between them. She wanted him to say that he still loved her. She wanted him to hold her and make the pain go away.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 11
Kudos: 5





	Unkiss Me

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters. 

\---

If you respect me  
Don't protect me  
You can tell me, I can handle it  
If you let go, then just let go  
It’s disrespectful how you’ve handled this

\---

“I’m not having this conversation with you again, Ronald.” Hermione paced around the room, running her fingers through her hair. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could take this. They had been arguing for the past two hours over the same damn thing they had been fighting about for the past month. If after a month she wasn’t able to convince him that she had to spend more time at work because of the upcoming hearing and that she wasn’t out sleeping around, then she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to.

She stalked over to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. It was becoming a nightly ritual for her to drink as a way of dealing with her husband. It was the only way she could make it through these fights. She finished off her glass, poured another one, and finished that one off as well before looking back at the man she couldn’t believe she used to love.

“You come home at all hours of the night and I never chastise you or ask you where you’ve been.” Despite her best efforts, her voice began to quiver, but she refused to cry in front of him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Hermione I-”

She lifted her hand up at him, signaling him to stop. She didn’t want to listen to any of his excuses. Not anymore. “No, I don’t care.”

Ron’s eyes followed her as she went towards the front door and grabbed her coat off the rack. She never liked leaving during an argument, but it didn’t seem like they were going to come to a resolution. She was tired and didn’t have the energy to continue fighting.

“You were with him weren’t you.” His voice was barely above a whisper and his tone was more of a statement than a question. 

Hermione looked back at him, a frown on her face and disbelief in her eyes. How many times had she told him that she had to work late for the next two months? How many times had she told him that they were just friends?

Things between Hermione and Ron were over. They had been for a while and both of them knew it. They were just too afraid to say the words out loud after spending years together as friends and finally coming together after they had helped Harry defeat Voldemort. For months Hermione knew that Ron had been sleeping around. With who? She wasn’t sure and she didn’t care. Things had gone to hell between them after Harry and Ginny had their first child, James. Not that things were perfect between them before then, but at least the fights weren’t every night. Ron had always dreamed of having a big family like his own and being an uncle reinforced that feeling. Hermione, on the other hand, wasn’t ready for such responsibility yet. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted kids. What she did know was that she was focused on her career. Working at the Ministry required long hours and lots of patience. Patience that Ron didn’t seem to have.

After a year of constant fighting about having children, it just stopped one day. Ron started coming home late from work, but seemed happier than he had been in a while. It was a weight off her shoulders and she welcomed the peace. When she found a pair of light blue lace underwear that she knew didn’t belong to her, instead of feeling disgust or hurt and demanding that he explain who it belonged to, she felt relief because it meant in the meanwhile, Ron would be focused on his affair and not on wanting children. It meant that while he kept up his affair, the arguments would stop. Her lack of hatred towards him, despite knowing what he was doing should have told her that it was time to leave the marriage.

Of course the peace couldn’t last forever. Once she began working on a new case about a month ago, she had to spend longer hours at work to make sure everything leading up to the hearing went as smoothly as possible. 

Even though Ron was the one having an affair, he was constantly accusing Hermione of spending too much time with a certain Marauder. She couldn’t stress enough that they worked in the same building and it was inevitable that spending long nights in the same room was bound to happen. No matter how many times she told him nothing was going on between them, Ron just couldn’t let go of his insecurities. She figured since he was cheating on her, he assumed she must be doing the same. Sometimes she wished something was going on between them just so that their fights actually made sense and so Ron was justified in his feelings. At times Hermione thought things would actually be going better between them if she were cheating on him. Why did it have to come to that though? Why should both spouses cheating be the solution to their problems? Why hadn’t she left sooner?

Hermione was brought out of her thoughts when she felt Ron’s cold, trembling fingers find her own.

“Stay here tonight,” he said, bringing her fingers to his lips, “you don’t need to go.”

The feel of his lips on her fingers filled her with disgust. This was all an act. She knew it and he knew it. There was no love left between them. 

She snatched her hand out of his and had to hold back the laughter threatening to escape. The wine was starting to take effect and she could feel her cheeks heating up. 

“What’s the point of this?” she said as she frantically pointed between the two of them, “you don’t have to love me.” A small part of her wanted him to say the affair would stop and that things would go back to normal between them. She wanted him to say that he still loved her. She wanted him to hold her and make the pain go away. 

He scoffed at her and rolled his eyes. The loving husband act quickly fading. “You know mum would have a fit if we split.”

And there it was. That’s what he was worried about. He didn’t care that his wife was on the verge of tears, he didn’t feel remorse knowing that she knew he had been having an affair. All he cared about was making his mother happy. 

Hermione had no more words for him. It was clear that he cared more about keeping up appearances than actually making the marriage work. 

She wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the fact that it was clear he didn’t truly care about her, but before she knew it she felt tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to fall. How much longer before they fell and she became incapable of holding back her rage? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she needed to leave. Now. 

“I have to go. I need to get out of here.” Hermione said to herself. She wiped the tears from her eyes and put on her coat. 

At the sound of something hitting the wall, she looked over to see Ron nursing his right hand. His knuckles were red and bleeding. Great. Another hole in the wall.

“Dammit!” Ron quickly made his way over towards Hermione before she had a chance to react. He grabbed her arms and forced her to look at him. “You’re not leaving.” The low yet commanding way he spoke sent shivers down her spine. It was rare that Ron was so bold as to demand her to do something. She couldn’t be around him when he was like this because part of her was frightened by what he might do.

She mustered all the strength she had and pushed him away. He threw his hands up in the air before hunching over the couch. He let his head fall into his hands and let out a loud sigh of frustration. Things weren’t going how they were supposed to. Hermione never left when they were arguing. He was usually the one to leave, but this time the roles were reversed. What had their relationship become?

After tonight she knew she needed to leave him for good. In the back of her mind it was something she had been thinking for a while, but never had the courage to do. This wasn’t how her life was supposed to turn out. Marrying a childhood friend should have meant that they knew each other well enough to overcome any obstacle. It should have meant that they would never want to do anything to hurt the other. There was supposed to be comfort in marrying someone who had been part of your life for so long.

They had their fights before, but none of them seemed like the final one. Despite the insults they shot back and forth at each other, one thing was certain: nothing said was strong enough to break them apart. But this fight had a different tone to it. Hermione wasn’t shouting, she didn’t seem angry. She just seemed done. Done with him and done with them. Despite that, he wasn’t ready to give up. He wouldn’t let her leave. He had to say something, anything to get her to stay even if it meant they would continue fighting.

“It’s sick, Hermione. You’re bloody mental if you think what you’re doing is ok!”

Hermione let out a loud laugh, shocking them both. She could no longer hold it in. Was he being serious? Was he really calling her sick when he was the one sleeping around?

All she could do was look at him and smile one last smile. For the first time in a long time she had no fight left in her. She was done. “Yeah, I think I’m sick. Sick of you.”

Before he had the chance to say anything else, Hermione apparated from their home and to the only place she could think of: 12 Grimmauld Place.

As soon as she apparated into the living room, she fell to her knees and began crying. Her sobs echoed through the house, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t realized how much she was holding back until she was finally able to leave and put some distance between herself and Ron. All the emotions she kept inside came pouring out and she couldn’t fight them off anymore. 

Once she felt like she had no more tears left to cry, she picked herself up off the floor and wiped her face with the sleeve of her coat. She was grateful no one was home to see her this way. It would’ve been mortifying if she had to explain what she was doing crying in the middle of a dark living room at 9 in evening. 

She decided to hang her coat in the closet and make her way to the bathroom to properly clean herself up. Looking at herself in the mirror, she could barely recognize herself. Her eyes were read and puffy from crying and she had dry streaks of tears and mascara on her cheeks. If it wasn’t for the ache she felt in her chest she would’ve laughed at how ridiculous she looked. She heard the front door unlock and quickly tried to clean the rest of her mascara stained face. 

Before she had a chance to get caught and end up bombarded with questions, she apparated to the guest room and locked herself inside. She didn’t feel like explaining herself, at least not tonight. All she wanted was a good night's rest because in the morning she was going to have a busy day full of packing up her things and house hunting and of course finding a good divorce lawyer. Luckily, she knew the perfect man.

A/N: I hope you liked the little one-shot and if you did please leave a review!


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